** Roast the onions in a tsp of oil for 2 minutes /until it turns translucent .

Method :

Roast the ingredients one by one from the table " to grind " using a tsp of oil to light golden colour and let it cool. Now grind this along with th eroasted onions to a fine paste adding very little water and keep aside.

Now heat the kadai with 2 tbsp of oil and do the seasoning with the mustard seeds ,curry leaves and channa dal. Add the hing also. Now drop in the vatral ( sundakkai / manath athakkali ) and fry in the hot oil for a minute over medium flame.

Pour in the tamarind juice and add the turmeric powder , salt and the jaggery. Let the mixture comes to a rapid boil. Add the ground wet paste now and combine well. Add , may be half a cup of water, if the kulambu is thick. Cover the pan and let the kulambu cooks in the medium low flame for another 6 to 8 minutes. By the time, the raw smell of the masala would have gone and the oil would start leaving the sides.

Notes :

Some may add urad dal , mustard seeds and rice to the vatral kulambu masala.

Most of them, dry roast the ingredients given for vatral kulambu masala , grind to a fine powder and add them atlast instead of adding as paste.

whatever may be the method, end of the day, it all gonna taste the same.

Adding onionsgives volume to the kulambu and brings some sweetness too.

this be the best dish on my list of dishes - super tempting bowl you got there! Now sutta appalam, and some paruppu thogayal and perhaps some vazhakai vadhakal curry - what say you? and I book my plane to dallas :)